Underscoring attachment for type-writers.



F. AITON.

UND-ERSCORING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE WRITER APPLICATION FILED MAR. a. 1917.

Patented July 17, 1917.

TNVENTOR ATTO R N EY FREED AITON, or LAiarAsAs-riixas.

U1 \TDERSCORII\TG ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE-WRITERS.

To all whom it may concern. a

Be it known'that I, FRED ArroN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lampasas, I

in the county of'Lampasas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Underscoring Attachment for Type-Writers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in typewriters, and moreparticularly to an underscoring attachment therefor.

The main object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary printing character which at the will of the operator may be placed in operative relation with the regular printing instrumentalities of the machine to print the auxiliary character in its properposition as the regular type charactors are formed, thereby avoiding the necessity of the after manipulation of the work for the insertion or interlineation of the character.

changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is" claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a side, elevation of this improved attachment shown in inoperative position,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the type bar of ordinary construction equipped with means to adapt it for use in connection with this attachment, the portion of the attachment with which it engages being shown in section,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the upper portion of this attachment showingthe arm which carries the auxiliary printing charac- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1917.

Application filed March 8, 1917. Serial No. 153,384.

ters detached and arranged in juxtaposition to the rod which supports it ready for assembling,

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a portion of a platen showing this attachmentin operative position ready for printing, the type;

bar being shown in dotted lines,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing a silightly different form of the invention, an

Fig. 6 is a side view'of the bar shown in Fig. 5, parts being broken oif.

[In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1

.t' o 4 and in Figs. 5 and 6, in which prc- "iferred forms of the invention are shown, an

underscoring character is employed as an auxiliary character to the use of which this invention is particularly adapted, although it is obvious that any other desired character may be substituted.

In the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the attachment constituting this invention is shown for use in connection with a front strike machine of the Underwood type, but it is to be understood that its use is not restricted to this particular type of machine, since the structure may be readily modified for attach ment to machines of other makes.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, the bringing of upper case and lower case characters into printing position although often controlled by shifting the platen is sometimes determined by shifting the type-carrying members and therefore this invention is not restricted to use upon a machine in which the printing point is shiftahle relatively to the characters, nei-' ther is the invention restricted to a machine having both upper and lower case characters.

The form .of the attachment shown in. Figs. 1 to 4 comprises an auxiliary character carrying member inthe form of an arm 1 projecting laterally from a rod .2 and detachably connected therewith. The arm 1 which is bifurcated at its free end as indicated at 3 has an eye 4 at its inner end which fits over and turns on a stud 5 extending upwardly from rod 2. finger (i also projects upwardly from rod 2 at one side of the stud 5 and is designed to engage arm 1 and swing it into operative position as shown in full lines in 4 .omthe turning of spring 7 coiled around said rod and engagthe arm 1 atone end and at its other en secured to the machine to which the device is'attached. This spring 7 operates to hold arm 1 in the position shownin Fig. 1

when the attachment is not in use.

The furcatlons 30f arm 1 each carr an 'auxlhary character 8, here shown as a ashshaped projection extending beyond the face of each furcation and arranged longitudinally thereof. I

As is well understood in typewriters in ordinary use, each type block B and its type bar I) carry the regular printing type charact'ers of the machine, one of which C is operative with. the platen in upper case position and the other of which c is operative when the platen P is in its lower case position.- It is for this reason that two auxiliary characters 8 are here shown, one for the upper case and the other for the'lower case.

A foot9 extendslaterally from the lower end of rod 2. with the free end ofwhich a lever .10 is pivotally connected. This lever 10 has a catch 11 on its lower face about midway its ends andat its front end is connected with an actuating key 12.

A locking and release key 13 carried by a bar 14 disposed below the bar of key l2-has a catch member 15 projecting upwardly therefrom for cooperationwith catch 11 for locking the auxiliary character in operative position, said bar 14 being resiliently held in raised position by a sprlng 16.

When in normal inoperative position, as shown in Fi 1, the foot 9 ofthe' rod 2 extends towar the platen P and arm. 1 away from it, the catches 11, and 15 being disengaged and spring 7 operating to hold these v parts so disposed. g

It is well known that all of the type carrying members of the printing instrumentalities move singly in converging paths to a common printing position and are each formed with the upper and lower case char- .acters O andc above referred to and between which on machines to which this attachment I .is applied are formed notches 20 designed to engage the furcations 3 which carry the auxiliary printing characters 8. When these furcations or fingers 8 are engaged with the notches 20 in the type block B, the auxiliary characters 8 on said fingers will be .flush with the type C and 0 'carried by said block as is shown, clearly in Fig.3 so that when driven by the force of the type barb against the papercarriedby the platen P, the underscore is formed beneath the letter printed and simultaneously with the printing of said letter. This is accomplished by depressing I key 12 which draws lei or 10 and foot 9 connected therewith forward, thereby swinging rod 2 against the tension of spring 7 and positioning the auxiliary character carrying rod 2 against the tension of a \arm 1 toward the platen} in the position shown in Fig.2, with the fingers 3 of said arm disposed in the path of the type block I B so that when said block is moved into, printing position, the notches 20 thereof will fit over the fingers 3 and force the auxiliary characters 8 carried thereby against the paper on which the word isto, be printed. This depression of key 12 also engages catch 11 with catch'15 and therehey locks arm 1 in position ready for usewh re it may remain for use in connection with any desired number of letters to be underscored.

It is understood that the auxi1iary.character carrying fingers 3 when'locked adjacent the place where the type block strikes the",

paper will be positioned just far enough rom said point as not to interfere with the movement of the carriage, the arm 1 being swing rod 2 and thereby move the arm 1 away from the platen into inoperative position as shown in Fig. 1 in full lines.

In the form shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the auxiliary characters are carried by a regular type bar 21 which is designed to be placed at one side of the ordinary type bars out of the wa and which is mounted to swing into position at one side of the point where the type strikes the paper. This provides for the auxiliary character carryin fingers 3 to be so positioned'as to be strucfi by the type bars in their rinting operation. These fingers 3' in this orm of the invention are shown projecting laterally from the upper end of bar 21 in -longitudinally spaced relation and carrying'the auxiliary characters '8' at their 'free ends. As these fingers 3' must be positioned a short distance from the ribbon when brought into operative position, it is necessary that a spring of some kind be provided in bar 21. Hence this bar 21 is constructed in two sections 22 and 23, pivotally connected at 24,the upper section 22 having an'offset finger 25 projecting longitudinally from its-lower end beyond its pivotal connection with section 23 and between which and ,said' section 23 is disposed a coiled spring 26. v To prevent the fingersS' from striking the guides which are employed for the type bar and which are not shown, these fingers grre curved slightly, as is shown clearly in The' operation of this form of the device is similar to that above described, the type bar I) carrying the block B at its upper end operating in the same manner to engage the fingers 3 when making its printing stroke and force the auxiliary characters 8' into printing engagement with the paper and when said type bar moves away from the paper back to normal inoperative position, the spring 26 will move the upper section 22 of the bar 21 which carries the auxiliary characters back away from the paper into function, operating as guides for the fingers and to provide for their being made suiiiciently heavy to resist breaking strains.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages 0' the construction and of the method of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be'made as are within .the scope of the claimed invention.

I claim 1. An auxiliarly character carrying attachment for typewriter machines comprising a rotatably disposed rod having an arm extending laterally from one end in one direction, an auxiliary character carried by said arm, a spring connected to turn said rod in one direction, and key controlled means for turning said rod in the opposite direction for positioning the character carrying arm in the path of the type carrying member on the machine With which the attachment is to be used.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a type-carrying member,,a movable member carrying an auxiliary character and comprising two sections, one provided with the auxiliary character and yieldable relatively to the other section, means between said sections for automatically. returning said movable section to set position after it has been actuated, said movable section having means for engagement by said type-carrying member on its printing stroke whereby the auxiliary character is printed simultaneously with the type on the type-carrying member.

3. An auxiliary character, carrying attachment for typewriter machines comprising a rotatably disposed upright rod having an arm extending laterally from one end in one direction and a foot extending laterally from the other end in the opposite direction, an auxiliary character carried by said arm, a spring connected to turn said rod in one direction, and key controlled means for turning said rod in the opposite direction for positioning the character carrying arm in the path of a type carrying member on the machine with which the at-' tachment is to be used.

4. An auxiliary character carrying attachment for typewriter machines comprising a rotatably disposed rod having an arm extending laterally from one end, an auxiliary character carried by said arm, a spring connected to turn said rod in one direction, key controlled means for turning said rod in the opposite direction for positioning the character carrying arm in the path of a type carrying member on the machine with which the attachment is to be used, and

means for locking said key controlled means a in position to hold the character carrying arm in operative position.

5. An auxiliary character carrying attachment for typewriter machines compris ing a rotatably disposed rod having-an armextending laterally from one end in one direction and a foot extending laterally from the other end in the opposlte direction, an auxiliary character carried by said arm, a spring connected to turn said rod in one direction, key controlled means for turning said rod in the opposite direction for positioning the character carrying arm in the path of a type carrying member .on the machine with which the attachment is to be used, and resilient means for locking said key controlled means in position to hold the character carrying arm in operative position.

6. In a typewriting machine, the combination of printing instrumentalities including an auxiliary character carrying device com prising. a rotatably mounted'rod having an arm extending laterally from one end and provided with vertically spaced fingers hav-, ing auxiliary characters mounted thereon\ a' foot extending laterally from the lower end of said 'rod, a lever pivotally engaged with said foot and operable when moved in one direction to swing said fingers into operative position, and a combined locking and release lever, said levers having cooperating catches for locking the first mentioned lever in position to hold the character carrying fingers in operative position.

7. In a typewriting machine, the combination of printing instrumentalities including an auxiliary character carrying device comprising a rotatably mounted upright rod havmg an arm extending laterally from one end and provided with vertically spaced fin gers having auxiliary characters mounted thereon, a foot extending laterally from the lower end of said rod, a lever pivotally ena gaged with said foot and operable when ing position, and means for disengaging the moved in one direction to swing said fingers catches of said levers.

into operative position, a combined locking In testimony whereof I afiix my signature and release lever, said levers having coiiperin presence of two witnesses.

z 5 ating catches for locking the first mentioned FRED AITON.

-lever in position tojhold the character car- Witnesses: i rying fingers in operative position, resilient H. J. ABNEY,

means for holding said locking lever in lock- W. M. Love. 

